The Family Channel (UK)
| Challenge | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 1 September 1993 |
| Owned by | Sky plc |
| Picture format | 16:9, 4:3, 576i (SDTV) |
| Audience share | 0.57% 0.05% (+1) (April 2017, BARB) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Formerly called | The Family Channel (1993–97) Challenge TV (1997–02) Challenge? (2002–03) |
| Sister channel(s) |
Pick, Real Lives, Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Arts, Sky Atlantic, Sky Cinema, Sky Living, Sky News, Sky Sports, Sky Sports Box Office, Sky Sports F1, Sky Sports News |
| Timeshift service | Challenge +1 |
| Website | challenge |
|
Availability
|
|
| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 46 |
| Satellite | |
| Freesat | Channel 146 Channel 147 (+1) |
| Sky | Channel 145 Channel 245 (+1) |
| Astra 2E | 11836 H 27500 5/6 11836 H 27500 5/6 (+1) |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media (UK) | Channel 139 Channel 180 (+1) |
| WightFibre | Channel 73 Channel 86 (+1) |
| Virgin Media (Ireland) | Channel 157 |
| IPTV | |
| Freewire | Channel 125 |
| Streaming media | |
| Sky Go | Watch live (UK and Ireland only) |
Challenge is a British digital television channel owned by Sky plc. The channel mostly transmits game shows from the UK and around the world, with some original productions.
The channel was originally established as The Family Channel, a British localisation of the American cable network of the same name, owned by U.S. firm International Family Entertainment, officially launched 1 September 1993.
The British version of The Family Channel came about when TVS was sold on 1 February 1993 to the American Company International Family Entertainment Inc. for US$68.5 million, which included the ownership of MTM Enterprises. In June 1993, prior to its launch, IFE sold a 39% stake in the channel to Flextech. The Family Channel did produce some UK original programming (see below), but heavily relied upon content from MTM and TVS's archives, and other U.S. imports. It was claimed that the channel produced more original series worldwide than any other cable or satellite network.
In April 1996, IFE sold its remaining 61% share to Flextech, giving them full ownership of the venture and production studio in Maidstone. The deal did not include any of the programme archive which included many TVS game shows, such as Catchphrase and All Clued Up, but the channel did continually broadcast these series until 2000.
Flextech planned to re-launch the channel as The Challenge Channel during the autumn of 1996, with daytime targeted towards housewives, and evening and weekend programming focused on game shows. However, Flextech decided to delay the full re-launch of The Family Channel so it would not compete with the October 1996 launch of Granada Sky Broadcasting's suite of channels—which included the potential competitor Granada Good Life. Instead, The Family Channel began transitioning to the new brand by introducing a weekend game show strand known as Family Challenge Weekend.
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Wikipedia